Acquittance
by pikapikatchu
Summary: Follow-Up on "I'm sorry": After the events in Nick's apartment, the CSIs wonder what happens next. Will the attacker go to jail for what he did? How will Greg and Nick deal with it?
1. Chapter 1

_This story follows up on "I'm Sorry". Please read the story before you go on with this one :)_

_You can find it at my profile or here: .net/s/7035507/1/Im_sorry (just put the fanfiction-url in front of it, I can't publish it that way, I'm sorry!)_**  
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><p>"<em>He's probably going to be acquitted...<em>

_He was under the influence of the wrong medication, he wasn't in his right mind..._

_His psychiatrist says he's not dangerous anymore..._

_He wants his job back._

_He has connections in the lab and a good lawyer..."_

Greg woke up on this Thursday afternoon, thinking about what Catherine said to him yesterday. A week has passed since Greg shot Julian in the right arm.

Julian was probably going free. There might not even be a trial. Julian will prove that he was intoxicated when he was at Nick's.

He claims he had an unusually adverse reaction to his new medicine. Instead of making him better, the drugs made it much worse than it would've been without them. In Las Vegas courts, cases of involuntary intoxications are treated like temporary insanity. Therefore, he should be acquitted by the jury, if the case is going to trial.

Greg didn't know what to think about that, how to feel about it. Ever since he shot Julian, he was kind of apathetic. It was all just too overwhelming.

Catherine said that, if Julian got his job back, he'd probably not work the same shift as Greg.** Probably.** Not too comforting, he thought. Julian didn't claim he was taking the new drugs when he was constantly hitting on Greg, kissing him. He just couldn't believe that Julian wasn't going to be punished for what he did.

His mind told him it's okay. If he really was insane at the time he did all of this, then he doesn't belong behind bars. His heart, though, was saying something else. He didn't want to see Julian ever again, but knew he had to, whether or not he got his job back.

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><p>Nick opened the door to let Greg in. He wanted to check on him before he went to work.<p>

Due to the mild concussion Nick had he took a few days of sick leave. He would come back to work tomorrow.

"Hey. Hungry?" Greg asked as he showed Nick the burgers he bought.

Nick smiled. "Sure. Come in."

They went over to the couch to eat. The first time he was back in the apartment, after what happened, it was a weird feeling for Greg. Now, it was okay, normal even.

"You're ready to get back to work tomorrow?" Greg asked.

"Mhm. I was ready last week, but I just couldn't convince Catherine." He laughed.

"She just worries about you. We all do." After a short moment of silence, Greg continued. "Listen, there's something I need to tell you."

Greg knew Catherine would tell Nick tomorrow about Julian probably being acquitted, but he wanted to be the one to tell him.

"That's bullshit!" Nick said outraged. "He knew EXACTLY what he was doing!"

"Well maybe it was the medicine, we don't know that."

"He's a sick psycho who uses this as an excuse, that's all!" Nick jumped off his seat. "He can't come back to work for the lab! That's insane!"

"What are you yelling at me for?" Greg said in a calm, sad voice. Of course Nick wasn't yelling at him, but he was a bit sensitive these days.

"I'm sorry, I'm not yelling at you, I'm just mad!" he said, still yelling.

"Me, too. But yelling's not going to fix anything."

Nick sat down again. "When they ask for our statements, we need to tell them everything about Julian. That he was persistently asking you out, and all that kind of stuff."

Greg sighed. "Of course. But you know as good as I do that it doesn't really matter what we say. Julian has one of the best lawyers in Vegas, he'll get what he wants."

"But why should he get his job back?"

"Catherine said his father is friends with the lab director, and if he's acquitted, then there's no reason for him to lose his job, I guess..."

Nick leaned back as he sighed. "That sucks, man. It's not fair."

"I know," Greg said softly. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah, sure. I can't promise I won't kill him once he's back in the lab, though."

Greg smiled. "That's not a good idea. It's gonna be fine. Julian would be insane to try anything ever again."

"Greg... He IS insane."

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><p>When Greg entered the lab, he was greeted with lots of pitying faces. <em>Looks like everybody heard about Julian,<em> he thought.

Being in a rather neutral mood when he walked in, he now was pretty annoyed. To top it all off, he was greeted with the same pity by his colleagues as he entered the break room. "Hey guys," he said, trying not to show his annoyance.

"Hey," everyone said both pitiful and in an upbeat voice.

He walked over to the coffee machine.

"Here," Henry said as he handed him a coffee.

Greg gave him a smile, trying to hide his real feelings. He sat down.

Mandy put her hand on his arm. "Are you going to be okay?"

Greg sighed and nodded.

She squeezed his arm as she stood up and smiled. "We have to get to work. But we're here for you, if you need anything..." she said as she and the other lab rats left the room.

_How will I get through this day?_ He thought annoyed. He buried his head in his arms he just put on the table.

"It's okay, let it out..." Mandy said as she started stroking Greg's back. She came back in because she forgot something, but when she saw Greg like that, she thought he was crying.

"I'm fiiiine..." he said angrily, still his head in his arms.

"What's wrong?" Ray asked as he walked in. He had yesterday off and somehow was able not to hear the latest lab gossip yet, so he had no idea that Julian was probably going free.

"Oh god, not you, too," Greg said annoyed.

Mandy quietly told Ray about it as she kept stroking Greg's back.

Ray nodded. "Mandy, could you give us a minute?"

Mandy left, giving Greg another empty phrase to try cheer him up.

"Thanks," Greg said smiling as he lifted his head again.

"Sure." Ray fixed himself a cup of coffee. "It's no surprise to me that Julian's trying the insanity plea. He'll probably win. How do you feel about that?" He sat down next to Greg.

Greg shrug his shoulders. "I don't really believe that his meds caused his behavior."

"It's possible, though. There have been similar cases with the kind of drugs he took. I looked into it."

"Yeah but... Julian was way too intrusive before he claimed to have taken the new drugs. How will he explain that in court?"

"There's a difference between being intrusive and being a dangerous stalker. I told you about his crush on me, right? He never gave me reason to believe he might be dangerous."

Ray was probably right, Greg thought. Maybe it was his own fault that he felt threatened by Julian. Maybe it was even his fault that Julian was so pushy. Of course it wasn't true, but Greg thought that. Like victims often do, he blamed himself. "Tell that Nick. He's outraged that Julian might work for this lab again."

"I'm anything but a fan of Julian, you know that. But maybe it's the right thing to give him his job back. If it's not his fault that he acted that way, why should he be punished for it?"

Ray was right. Greg hated him for being right right now, but he knew he was. It was easier for Ray to see that, though. He wasn't the one who was harassed by Julian. He wasn't the one who had to shoot at Julian to keep him from hurting Nick. It was easy for Ray because he wasn't emotionally involved in this. But Greg was. Nick was, too. And it was hard for both of them to see past the fact that Julian tried to kill them. The 'why' didn't really matter to them right now.

"I'm just kind of scared to face him again..." Greg said with an uncomfortable smile. It was hard for him to admit that.

"You'll be fine," Ray said with a smile on his face. "You're stronger than you think."

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><p><em>Okay, I know some of you will probably not like the fact that Julian might be acquitted :) But I checked this, it's possibly in a case like that! I'm not sure if he would really get his job back, I couldn't find any info on that. But please keep in mind, it's a fanfic, and stranger things have happened on TV shows... lol I hope it's okay for you guys :)<em>


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for the review and the Story Alert followers :) I know most of you wanted to see Julian behind bars ;) But life's not always fair! And who knows, maybe this makes for an interesting plot. We'll see... ;)_

_Enjoy!_

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><p>"We're still waiting for the DNA results, but we think it's Shannon," Nick said to Mr. and Mrs. Craig in the lobby at the police station. Their daughter went missing five years ago, when she was only 16 years old. A young woman's remains were found today and the CSIs had reason to believe it was the daughter.<p>

"Do you know how she died?" the father asked. Before they got the call today, the parents still had hopes that their daughter was alive. Now, they couldn't stop crying.

"Not yet. But we'll let you know when we get any new information."

"Thank you, Mr. Stokes."

Nick and Greg were working the case together five years ago when she went missing. They both thought she just ran away, there were signs suggesting it. It came as a surprise for everyone involved to find her dead, although they all considered this possibility.

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><p>Greg walked up to Nick in the hallway at the lab. "She was stabbed, but Doc Robbins can't tell if she was raped or not." He handed Nick the report.<p>

"Didn't expect him to find evidence for that on bones. Are the DNA results back?"

"I'm on my way to the lab right now. You wanna come with?"

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><p>Since Julian was not available to work in the DNA lab, they were short-handed. The lab director didn't want to hire a new technician just yet, in hopes that Julian might return soon. They tried to solve the situation by having the other lab techs doing overtime. Greg had to work a few hours in the lab, too, but wasn't happy about this.<p>

"Where's the lab tech?" Nick asked when he found the lab empty.

Greg walked over to the computer and sat down to print out the results. "I am the tech."

It was Nick's first day back in the lab since he was attacked and he didn't know Greg had to fill in for Julian. He was quite surprised by this. "But you've been in the field with me, just a few hours ago. You're doing both?"

Greg nodded as he took the printed results in his hands. "It's Shannon Craig's DNA."

Her parents were checking in every few weeks to get an update on her case and Nick got to know them a little. A few months after he was buried alive, she got missing. Greg was still a level one CSI and considered a rookie, he didn't have too much contact with the family. But it was a difficult time for Nick, dealing with the kidnapping. He got emotionally attached to the family and their story. He was sure he'd find her someday, although he knew as a CSI that, after such a long time, the chances of a crime were growing. He didn't want to believe it. He was standing in the DNA lab, staring at the results for over two minutes now, lost in his thoughts.

"Nick. Are you okay?" Greg asked a little worried. His cell phone rang.

"Huh? Yeah, sure."

Greg answered the phone. "Sanders. Really? Okay. Thanks."

Nick was staring at the results again.

"That was David. She died three years ago."

"What?" Nick said, looking up from the papers. "But she went missing five years ago. And you're sure that's her?"

"Of course. It's her DNA, I double-checked it."

"Do it again."

"It's her, I di..." He was interrupted.

"Do it again! You were out in the field all day and come back hours later, tired and exhausted, processing DNA samples. You probably screwed up! They expect you to do two jobs in one shift, it's only a matter of time you screw one of them up! Do it again!" He tossed the results at the table.

Greg was taken by surprise. What did Nick just say? "Nick, I..." Again, he was interrupted.

"I'm not going to tell that family that we found their dead daughter when I'm not 100% sure! Do it again!" Nick stormed out, leaving Greg with a shocked look on his face.

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><p>"I have the results from the DNA sample." Greg stood in the doorway. Nick was sitting at the light table, processing evidence from the case.<p>

"And?"

"What, you actually thought I screwed up? It's her. And before you ask, I checked it three times. I took different samples both from the remains we found and from what her parents brought us. Toothbrush, hairbrush, that kind of thing. There's no doubt."

"Okay."

"Is that it?" Greg asked rather annoyed.

"What do you mean?"

"How about an apology? You know that I take my job serious. It kind of hurt hearing you questioning my results."

Nick sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I just... I didn't want the results to be right."

"Me, neither." Greg smiled. "This was my first missing persons case we didn't solve right away. I always hoped we'd find her alive."

"Really?" Nick asked surprised.

"You don't remember? A few weeks after Shannon went missing, her mother came to the lab. She wanted to ask about the progress in the case. She came into the break room when I was there by myself and started asking me all these questions I had no answers to. I was kind of helpless and didn't know how to deal with her. Then you came and helped me out."

"Right. I remember." Nick smiled.

"It sucks that it's her, but it is. You want me to tell the parents?"

"No." Nick shook his head. "I feel like I owe it to them. I need to tell them."


	3. Chapter 3

Yesterday, both Nick and Greg gave a statement about what happened with Julian. Their statements were important for the D.A. to decide whether or not the case was worth prosecuting.

Nick was back to work for over a week now and Greg was more and more used in the lab. He was either working both in the lab and out in the field or doing overtime working in the lab. He was swamped with work. The only upside of it was that he got distracted from his own thoughts. He wasn't able to think about Julian all the time. He also didn't get too much sleep.

Finally, he had time for a coffee break.

Sara and Nick were sitting in the break room when Greg joined them. "I'm starting to want Julian back here," he said with a smile on his face as he sat down next to Sara.

"That bad?" she asked smiling.

"Funny you should ask, you brought me two dozen DNA swabs! They're not going to process themselves on their own, you know. Ray gave me a urine sample and Catherine had seven used condoms to process!" he replied in an upbeat voice. Despite being tired and a bit overworked, he was in a good mood.

"I actually have a box full of DNA samples waiting for you," Nick said smiling while reading in a newspaper.

"You're joking, right?"

"I'm afraid I'm not."

"From the Shannon Craig case?"

"Yes and no. Catherine assigned me to another case, too. You're not the only one being swamped with work, you know."

"Well... That's good to know," he replied sarcastically.

They joked around for another ten minutes when Catherine and Ray walked in.

"Nick, Greg. In my office, please?" Catherine and Ray shared a look as she walked out.

* * *

><p>Catherine didn't want them to see this, but Nick and Greg insisted to come here. The news came as a surprise, neither them, nor Catherine or anybody else expected this to happen.<p>

And still, both Nick and Greg couldn't help but think that justice finally was served when they saw Julian like that.

"The D.A. wouldn't even have pressed charges. Julian would've run free," Catherine said as she looked at his lifeless body. His face was smashed beyond recognition, but they were sure it was him. "The lab director even would've given him his job back."

Greg was speechless. He had no idea how to react to this. It was like a bomb being dropped off on him.

"Who did this?" Nick finally asked. He was as shocked as Greg. He threatened to kill Julian more than once, but of course never meant it. In his eyes, Julian was a sick psycho who needed to be locked away, but he didn't think he deserved to die.

"We'll hopefully find out soon," Catherine said.

Julian's body was lying in the guest bedroom of his apartment, the one Greg woke up in after a night out with him. Detective Reed was walking up on the three from the hallway. "What are you two doing here?" she asked rather irritated.

"They wanted to be here," Catherine tried to explain.

"Out. Both of you! All three of you, actually. You can't be here!"

"Why not? What's wrong?" Nick asked confused.

"Don't you get what this looks like? You're lucky we didn't arrest you yet."

"Arrest us? Wait a second... You think we have anything to do with this?" Nick asked outraged.

"You had enough reason to do this, don't you think?" As Reed noticed their shocked faces, she quickly became more compassionate. "I'm sorry. I know you don't have anything to do with this, but the D.A. might consider you two as suspects. You just can't be here.

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><p>The CSIs gathered in the break room again to process what just happened. Julian was dead. No one was sure how to feel about this. No one liked him, but before he started stalking Greg, he wasn't exactly a bad person, either.<p>

They discussed it for over half an hour, but Nick didn't involve too much into the conversation. They talked about their feelings following his death and Catherine said she'd try her best to get a replacement for Julian's position as soon as possible. They also decided whether or not they want to attend his funeral. Greg wanted to pay him his respect, but figured his family might not want to see him there, as well as Nick. So Catherine and Ray decided to go alone, with Sara showing no interest of going.

"Okay, then... Let's get back to work," Catherine said as she got off her seat. They still had a lot to do, with five cases on their hands.

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><p>Although either one of his colleagues could use a hand in their cases – especially Nick, who had to work two cases – Greg had to work in the DNA lab again. Concentrating on his work wasn't easy as he kept thinking about Julian. He wanted to feel bad. He wanted to mourn his death. After all, no matter what else happened, for a short time period they were friends. But he couldn't. He wasn't exactly glad that he was dead, either, but he felt safer now.<p>

"Are you done with my DNA samples?" Nick walked in.

"Not yet," Greg replied hectic. He was doing several samples at once, trying to get the results quick. Nick looked around in the lab. "Is that from the Shannon Craig case?" He pointed at DNA swabs that were still sealed.

"Yup. Didn't have time to work on those yet."

"But you've already started processing the stuff from my other case? And from Catherine's?"

"Mhm," he said, running around the lab. "You're kind of in my way." Greg tried to gently shove Nick away from a drawer he needed to get into.

"Greg, what the hell? This case is important to me! And I thought you cared about it, too!"

"It is! But it's not a priority." Greg was with his back turned to Nick on the microscope.

"Excuse me?" Nick said angrily, grabbing Greg by the shoulder to turn him with his chair around. He was now face to face with him. "I need these results!"

"Nick, calm down. And loosen your grip, will ya?" Greg shook Nick's hand off his shoulder. "She's been dead for three years. Whoever killed her could be anywhere now, but he's probably not a threat at the moment. Catherine's peeping Tom, turned rapist, could strike again anytime! You know exactly how this works, I can't let my emotions decide which case to work first!"

Reed, accompanied by Brass and two officers, walked in. "Excuse me."

Both Nick and Greg turned their heads around. They both knew it had something to do with Julian, but the look on Reed's and Brass' faces told them it's not good news.


	4. Chapter 4

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Sanders," Detective Casey Keenan from Internal Affairs greeted him with a handshake as Greg walked into the interrogation room. They met a few months ago when IA suspected Nick to have shot Officer Randall at the lab.

He was nervous, he had no idea what was going on. Was he a suspect in Julian's murder case now? "Hello..."

"Please, sit down."

He did, and Brass sat down next to him. Greg looked a bit helpless to Brass, but he kept his straight face on, giving Greg more reason to be nervous. "What's going on here?"

"Mr. Sanders, I'd like to videotape your statement. Is that alright?"

He nodded.

"Mr. Stokes was kinda rough there in the lab, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't he grab you by the shoulder and yell at you?" Keenan asked.

"No. I mean, yeah, he touched my shoulder, but he didn't yell at me."

"Mhm." He wrote something down. "He has quite a temper, it seems? What was your altercation about?"

Greg rolled his eyes. He figured Keenan was looking for something to blame Nick for Julian's murder. "Nick doesn't have a temper. He didn't agree with how I did my work and we talked about it. That's all."

"Oh yeah?" Again, he wrote something down. "What's wrong with how you're doing your job?"

"Nothing. He wanted me to make his case top priority. I told him that other cases are important, too."

"Right. You're back in the DNA lab. Now that Julian is dead they'd try to find a new tech. Good for you, huh?"

Greg didn't know what to answer. What was Keenan getting at? "Could somebody tell me what's this about? You can't possibly think that Nick killed Julian!"

Keenan grinned. "Of course not. We think you did."

"...What? Why would you even think that?"

The Detective put photographs on the table. "For starters, that's why."

The pictures showed Julian's body. In his left hand were strands of hair. Greg didn't know how this would suggest that he has anything to do with his death. But other pictures showed something different. "...Is that my kitchen?" he asked shocked. "You've been into my apartment?"

"We had a search warrant."

He looked desperate to Brass, but saw only pity in his eyes. "A search warrant? How?"

Brass pointed at one of the pictures with Julian's body on them. "These strands of hair are yours."

"But... How did they get there?" Greg asked sheepishly.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Keenan said.

"I... I have no idea. I didn't see him after I talked to him at the hospital."

"If you went over to him to talk to him and... things got out of hand, you have to tell us," Brass said, trying to be understanding. The way Julian's face was ravaged didn't really conclude that someone did this to him in self defense, but he wanted to believe that, if Greg did this, it was self defense.

"No! I didn't do this."

"Listen, Sanders. Let's be honest here. You had motive. You claim he was stalking you. He had a bad reaction to his medication which caused him to hold you and Stokes hostage. In order to get out there, you shot him. You just wanted to end what you started, didn't you?" Keenan already made up his mind and there was almost no way convincing him he was wrong.

Greg shook his head. "No."

"You also had opportunity." Keenan showed him the pictures again. "Did you really think we wouldn't find this?" The picture was showing one of Greg's kitchen cupboards. Inside this cupboard was a set of keys. "You shouldn't have kept this spare key to your victim's apartment."

"I didn't even know I had those keys! He never gave it to me."

"What are you trying to say, Mr. Sanders? That we planted it there?"

"No, of course not, but..."

"But you have no idea how it got there. Huh. That's strange, isn't it? Can you at least explain how your keys turned up at his apartment?" Keenan pulled out another picture. It showed one of Julian's side tables with Greg's old set of keys sitting on it.

Slowly Greg began to understand what was going on. At least what he thought was going on. "I can explain that."

"I hope you can," Keenan said sarcastically.

David knocked on the door and entered. "Excuse me..."

"What is it?" Keenan asked annoyed.

"I don't mean to interrupt," he said, looking at Greg with a faint smile on his face. "But we have the time of death."

"And?"

"He died two to four hours before he was found. Greg was at the lab at the time."

Keenan looked at David annoyed. "Alright, thank you." David left the room. As Keenan saw the relief in Greg's eyes, he got even more annoyed. He just wanted Greg to be the murderer and wasn't even sure why. "Okay, get out of here. But just so you know, this doesn't mean anything to me. You're a CSI, I'm sure you know how to manipulate TOD, and you could also have hired someone to do the dirty work for you. Don't go too far away."

Greg tried his best to resist the urge to roll his eyes. He stood up and left the room, Brass followed.

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><p>"You did good in there," Brass said, trying to cheer up Greg.<p>

"You really thought I did this?" Greg said disappointed and walked away, passing Nick, who tried to talk to him, but Greg didn't stop.

"Is he alright?" Nick asked Brass. "It didn't go too well in there, did it?"

"No, it's alright. He has an alibi."

"Then why does he look so angry?"

"Because I thought he did it." Brass walked away.

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><p>A week later, the CSIs working Julian's murder still weren't able to shed any light in the case. The only evidence they found was pointing towards Greg, but with him having an alibi, there was almost no possibility of him being the murderer. Almost meaning, like Detective Keenan said, maybe he was somehow able to manipulate time of death. There was nothing to prove that, though. Greg was officially not a suspect anymore, meaning that they didn't have any suspects. They didn't know who did it or why he was murdered. All they knew was the 'how'. Beaten and then shot. He had high levels of pain killers in his blood, something they couldn't explain. They figured it might have something to do with his gunshot wound Greg caused. Maybe he took too many pills by accident, they thought. Either way, it didn't really matter anymore. They were ready to lay the case to rest.<p>

"Nick!" Greg stormed into the break room. The look on his face made Nick expect some bad news.

"What's wrong?"

"I got the results from your case." He was still working in the DNA lab most of the time.

"Finally. Took you long enough. What did you find?"

"Remember the blood stain on her clothes? It's not hers. I also found traces of sperm on her clothes. It's the same guy, the sperm and the blood."

Nick nodded. "Is he in one of our databases?"

"No."

Nick looked disappointed.

"But I know who it belongs to."

"Well then spill it out."

"Well, when she went missing we collected both the mother's and the father's DNA, remember?" He sighed. "It's Mr. Craig's blood and sperm."

"What?" Nick said shocked, almost not believing it. "And you're sure about that?"

"Of course. But there's more. He's not her biological father. Doesn't make it much less weird, but..." When he saw Nick's face impression, he stopped. "Are you alright?"

"It can't be him. He can't be the murderer of his daughter!"

"You have to arrest him, Nick. Looks like he did it."

"We don't know that! Maybe the blood got on her shirt before she went missing." Nick tried to find a good explanation for this. "Maybe..."

"And how do you explain the sperm stain? Or that she went missing two years before she died? These stains suggest that he saw her on the day she died, two years after she was reported missing. It's not too far fetched to say he also killed her. You have to call Brass. Mr. Craig needs to be arrested."

"Well if you're so sure about that, why don't you call Brass. I won't." Nick got up and left the room.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey. You're on your way home?" Greg said as he walked into the locker room, sitting down on a bench.

"Mhm."

"Lucky you. I have to do overtime again."

Nick closed his locker. "See you tomorrow."

"Wait. I just wanted to tell you... Mr. Craig confessed. He claims it was an accident, but he killed her. He had contact with her the whole time. They had an affair, they both knew they're not really related... I figure she wanted to leave him, or maybe didn't even consent to their affair to begin with, that might be his motive."

"And why are you telling me this? To get praise for solving the case?" Nick asked, acting indifferent.

"No! God, Nick... Your reaction to this all is quite unusual. Since when do you refuse to believe the evidence?"

"I don't want to talk about this, I need to get home." Nick walked past Greg.

"Why do you care so much for this family?" Greg stood up and followed Nick out.

"Didn't you claim to care for this case, too?"

"Of course," Greg said as he followed Nick to the parking garage. "But our priority has to be the victim. We can't be loyal to anybody else."

Nick stopped. "I was sure they were decent people. That their grief was real. And now you're saying the father knew what happened to her all along. That he even killed her. It's just heart-wrenching. You can't trust anybody these days."

"That's not true. You have lots of people in your life you can trust."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't we be able to trust more people than just our closest friends? I never had a good feeling about Julian, but I didn't think he was capable of doing what he did. You trusted him and he proved that he didn't deserve that trust."

Greg wasn't sure, but he thought he'd heard resentment in Nick's voice. "What does this have to do with Julian? What are you trying to say?"

"Forget it." Nick walked towards his car.

"No. Just say it. I'm responsible for what he did. Had I been more careful like you told me to, this would've never happened. It's my fault you got hurt."

Normally, Nick would tell Greg how ridiculous he was, trying to make him feel better. But that's actually how Nick felt, so he just looked at Greg, got into his car and drove off.

* * *

><p>Low-spirited from what just happened, Greg went back into the lab to get back to work. He had several hours of work ahead of him. Right now he was working on Catherine's case.<p>

"Here's another one." Catherine walked in with an evidence bag in her hands.

Greg leaned back exhausted. "Don't tell me there's a used condom in this bag!"

"It's the same guy, I'm sure. And like the last times, we probably won't find any semen on the condom, but vaginal fluid from the victim. But this time the victim fought back. She scratched him." Catherine handed him an envelop. "Maybe we get lucky this time."

"I'm on it."

"Are you okay?" she asked as she noticed his gloominess.

Greg shrugged. "I'm just disappointed with Brass... and myself."

"Why's that?"

"Because he thought I did it." Greg laughed humorlessly.

"Well you can't blame him for that, now, can you?"

Greg looked surprise.

"Oh come on, don't give me that look." She smiled. "The evidence was pointing at you and everyone would've understood if you did it! Julian was a psycho and made your life living hell!"

"So you're saying you thought I did it, too?" Greg asked, not knowing if he should be angry at her or not.

"No," she said laughing. "I know you're not capable of murder. But Brass doesn't know you as good as I do, and he's cynical. Don't give him a hard time for it."

Greg nodded thoughtful.

"And why are you disappointed with yourself?"

Greg smiled nervously. "Oh nothing, I just... I don't know, I feel guilty for everything that's happened with Julian."

Catherine nodded. "You didn't attack Nick. You didn't... hit on Julian. It's not your fault. Cut yourself some slack."

* * *

><p>A few hours after Nick went home, Greg was finally allowed to do the same.<p>

He found a DVD in his mailbox. It had nothing written on it and was put there without a DVD-case, making Greg wonder who'd do that, and why.

After fixing himself a meal he decided to take a look on the DVD. He was too nosy to just throw it away.

He didn't know what to expect from it, but never, ever would he have thought to see what he was about to see.

"_Hello Greg," _he heard Julian's voice. It was awkward to see Julian's face on his TV screen, but that's what the DVD showed. _"I decided to make this little film for you. When you watch this, you either served a few years in jail for murdering me or my plan didn't work out. I'm brilliant, so I guess you're watching this from your cell now."_Julian went on to explain how evidence suggesting that Greg killed Julian ended up at the crime scene. He took hair from Greg when he slept at his place. Back then, he didn't intent to use it that way. He just wanted something from Greg. The keys were placed to make it look like Greg had access to Julian's apartment.

"_You know as good as I do that you didn't kill me. But that didn't mean it's not your fault I'm dead. You rejected me. You gave up on our friendship. And you shot me, of course. Now, don't think I'm doing this to hurt you. I love you and I always will. But you need to be punished for what you did. I want you to think about what you did for the rest of your life. You murdered me! If it wasn't for you, I'd still be alive. But there's no point in living if I can't be with you. And now, watch me die."_ The video continued with a masked man beating and shooting Julian, but Greg couldn't watch it to the end. Instead, he put the DVD out of his DVD-player and thought about what to do with it. He knew the only responsible thing to do was hand it over to the authorities. Maybe they would be able to find the masked man who killed Julian. Give his family some closure. But it would also mean that everybody would watch this. Know what was going on in Julian's wicked mind. Greg didn't want them to know he let himself get killed because Greg didn't love him. He actually considered keeping this a secret when his phone rang.

"Hello?" he said with a shaking voice.

"_It's Nick."_

"Oh, hey. What's up?" His voice calmed down a bit.

"_Is everything alright? You sound weird."_

"What do you want?" Greg asked, trying to sound like he was in a good mood.

"_I feel bad about earlier. You shouldn't feel responsible for what Julian did. He was obviously insane. Don't beat yourself up on it, alright?"_

Greg sighed. To hear that felt really good, even though he didn't believe it. "Are you saying this to make me feel better or do you really mean it?"

"_Maybe both." _Nick laughed a bit. _"It would make it so much easier to just blame you for it, you know? And I needed this simplicity. But I know it's not your fault. After all, you saved me. Did I thank you for that yet?"_

Greg fought back tears. "You don't have to thank me... I have to thank you."

* * *

><p>After telling Nick about the DVD over the phone, Greg drove to the lab and handed the DVD over. Nick offered to accompany him, but he refused. He felt like he needed to do that alone.<p>

Julian's case was more or less closed with this very important piece of evidence and both Nick and Greg, as well as the rest of the lab, hoped that this would mean they were able to leave this dark part in their lives behind for good.

* * *

><p>Ende.<p>

* * *

><p>Thank you all for reading my stories! This storyline is over now, I hope you enjoyed it. :) And I also hope the ending is satisfying for you!<p>

Right now, I don't have any ideas for a new story, but stay tuned, I hope I'll get inspired soon.

Until then, have a nice summer!

Big love,

pikapikatchu


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